A/N... Oh boy, aren't you guys just a touch violent? Hmm? :D Poor Kenny wouldn't know what hit him if I set you guys loose on him. Heh. You won't have to. Trust me.
I need to warn some of you about this next chapter. It's M for violence. But those of you that have stuck with B&G from the beginning are pretty used to it. Interrogations can be pretty ugly, so I need to let you know. "Waterboarding" is real and is still used. "Dipping" is my own creation. And "Electrical Shock" is now illegal in some interrogations, as are some other things that were attempted here and not done. But these guys tend to write their own rule book.
M is also for LEMON WARNING. Yes, yes, two chaps in a row, but this one SCREAMED at me to be written. Okay, on with it. See you at the bottom.
CHAPTER 12
BELLA
"Are you sure you want to be in there for this shit?" Edward asked, cupping my face as we stood just outside the barn.
I nodded, but in truth, I wasn't really sure. There was a part of me that was aware of what my husband, his father, and their crew were capable of when it came to interrogation, and having been a victim of torture once before, I was a little nervous to watch, but the stronger part of me wanted to know what the men had to say. Sure, Edward could tell me after, but it wouldn't be the same.
I looked past Edward to see all four prisoners handcuffed to chairs, while Alec and Sam stood with watchful eyes behind them. The injured man from the guard shack hadn't made it through the night. A table had been set up, and the only thing sitting on it was what looked like a black toolbox – or maybe a tackle box. Eleazar and Carlisle were huddled together in deep conversation off to the side where the TNT had once been stored. It had been safely removed by some of Eleazar's men. Felix guarded one entrance to the barn, while Eric had the other. Mickey was sitting alone on a bale of hay, most likely waiting for me.
I rubbed my sweaty palms on my clean jeans that Edward had been sweet enough to bring with him, showing he'd been more than hopeful when it came to rescuing me.
I nodded up at Edward again. "Yeah...yes, I'm sure."
"Sweetness," he sighed, and groaned at the same time. "Dad and I...we aren't exactly...kind when we do this shit."
"Nor should you be," I huffed, taking a deep breath and glaring up at him. "I get it, baby. I do. But I want to hear what they have to say."
Edward studied my face, pulling me to him as he shook his head no. "I don't know," he said, his grimace hard to miss. "This is...torture, love... something you've..."
"Seen firsthand," I finished for him. I swallowed thickly, but met his handsome gaze. "I promise you, if it gets to be too much, I'll leave."
His nose wrinkled, as did his brow, but I saw the second he gave in. He pressed his lips hard to mine. "This isn't me you're about to see, Bella. Please, please keep that in mind," he pleaded against my mouth.
"Okay," I whispered back, stepping away from him.
I watched as he practically morphed in front of me, from my sweet, worried husband, to a soldier without remorse. His face, his jaw, they became hard, rigid. His eyes took on a callous blackness, and his posture became straight, his shoulders broader. He shook his head one more time, before turning away from me.
I followed him in, realizing he wasn't dressed that much differently than yesterday, minus the mud and the face paint. Black cargo pants hugged him in all the right places, and every muscle of his upper body was enhanced by a tight gray t-shirt that was topped off with a shoulder harness containing his Glock. His boots thumped heavily across the barn floor. He wanted to look big, menacing. And from a glance around at every other member of the team, they did, too. They were there to scare information out of four men.
I took a seat on the bale of hay next to Mickey, who leaned in to whisper, "This shit ain't pretty, Bells. Brace yourself."
I grimaced, looking over at her, because as long as I'd been with Edward, as long as I'd known Carlisle, I'd never seen them work a prisoner over, and now, there were four in front of us. Though, the main one that they wanted to interrogate was Kenny, who was sitting with a smug smirk on his face as he lounged back in the chair he was handcuffed to.
I knew what they were worried about – my past experience with Miller – but this was different. This wasn't personally happening to me, and the information we could possibly receive might possibly be used to stop Lilith and Walter from whatever they had planned next.
I did scoot closer to her, but we both looked up when a loud scraping sound echoed through the barn. Edward snatched up a long folding table, only to slam it down in front of all four men. Three of them jumped; Kenny didn't. The first boy on the end was the guard from my cell that Alec and Edward had captured. He looked so young, so fucking nervous, that his shirt was completely drenched with sweat. The next two men couldn't decide who to keep their eyes on – a pacing Carlisle, a calm, casual Eleazar, or Edward, who was nonchalantly setting the toolbox down on the table at the end near the cell guard. Kenny, on the other hand, knew who was out for him, so his eyes stayed locked on my husband, despite the belligerent smirk on his face.
No one had said a fucking word yet, and that made me nervous, so I couldn't imagine what was going through the prisoners' minds.
Carlisle stepped forward, taking position on the opposite side of the table. He slowly, deliberately pulled on black leather gloves, almost making a show of it. If I were to guess, I'd say he was picking out the weakest link, and that would be my guard from my cell.
Edward opened the toolbox, pulling out four lengths of rope, setting each one directly in front of a prisoner as Sam and Alec stepped up behind the four men. Carlisle braced his hands on the table directly across from my cell guard.
"I trust you slept well," he stated, using a low, but wry tone to his voice.
Mickey snickered, leaning into my ear. "They didn't sleep at all. They were tied in a standing position all night, with their hands above their heads and their feet chained to the floor. If they even closed their eyes, someone would use a loud noise to wake them. It's the first tactic used to start to breaking a prisoner."
My eyebrows shot up as I listened to her, but I kept my eyes on my godfather and Eleazar, the latter of whom pushed away from the pole he'd been leaning against.
"None of you were wearing identification, so give up your names," Eleazar commanded in a no-nonsense tone.
"What's your name?" Carlisle asked the youngest man at the table when no one said anything, but it was the other men that reacted.
"Tell him nothing!" one hissed, trying to lean over to look.
"Keep your mouth shut," the other growled.
Carlisle stood up straight and gave Edward a pointed look. My husband pushed himself away from the table, snatching up one length of rope, and grabbed one man, while Sam picked up the other. They were roughly removed from the table – chairs and all – leaving a space between my former guard and Kenny. Edward and Sam dragged their prisoners toward the exit, but paused long enough to stash one in a horse stall, before taking the other outside.
They made an obvious show of removing the man's cuffs, while replacing it with the length of rope, tossing the longer end over the well's pulley system. With two boots to the back of the man's chair, he fell with a splash into the water, and Sam secured a knot to the pole before he and Edward walked away.
"That's called dipping," Mickey told me in a hushed whisper. "The chair pulls him under, but the rope holds him up. If he struggles against the rope and unties it, then he sinks under. If he stays perfectly fucking still, then his head will stay above water."
I nodded in acknowledgment, turning my attention to Carlisle, who addressed my guard. "Name, son," he commanded.
"B-Bobby," he sputtered, his eyes following Edward and Sam as they proceeded to set up some sort of makeshift tilted table. "Bobby Curtis..."
Kenny scoffed, glaring at Bobby, but everyone's attention was drawn to the struggle at the end of the room. Sam and Edward secured their prisoner to the table with his head at the lower angle of the table, his feet well above his head. My fists clenched when two heavy straps were wrapped around his upper chest, including his arms, and his hips to hold them there. It was almost too much to watch, because being strapped to a table was something I was completely familiar with.
"Waterboarding," Mickey muttered next to me.
"Name," Edward commanded softly, holding a piece of cellophane over the man's face. "Now."
The idiot shook his head profusely, refusing to say anything, so Edward's hands quickly slapped the plastic wrap down over his face, as Sam poured an entire bucket of water over him, causing the man to buck and scream. The man gasped when Edward pulled his hands back, gagging over the side of the table.
"Name," he growled, holding the cellophane over his face again.
Mr. Anonymous continued to refuse, so down came the plastic again. Edward's whole body was flexed with the strength he was using in order to fight the guy when another entire bucket of water came splashing down. I knew the guy wasn't getting any actual water into his mouth or nose, but he was fighting it like he was. The way Edward and Sam were doing it had a severe psychological effect on him.
"Sh-Shit," the guy sputtered, after wretching off the side of the table again. "Earl," he panted. "Earl Crawford."
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Edward asked snidely, patting the guy's chest, before turning to Carlisle.
"Go get the last one's name, and we can really get started," Carlisle ordered, pointing toward the well.
Dipping had to be one of the scariest things I'd ever witnessed. It wasn't unlike the Salem Witch Trials I'd read about. Edward asked the man his name, even going so far as to tell him that he was the only one that hadn't given up a name. When the man didn't answer, Sam let the rope slacken, and the guy sank into the water under the weight of the chair he was still strapped to. I didn't go watch up close, but I could hear the splashes, the struggle, and the sputtering and coughing when Sam pulled him back up.
They dunked him three times like a giant teabag, before he finally gave up, "Roy Flowers," on a coughing groan.
"Excellent," Carlisle stated, beaming with false excitement. "Now we all know each other. Right, Kenny?"
"Fuck you," Kenny spat.
I shook my head at the young man's false bravado, because I could see the sweat beading on his forehead and upper lip, and it wasn't that warm in the barn.
Carlisle snickered humorlessly and walked to Kenny. He brought his hand back, smacking him hard across the face, knocking Kenny and his chair completely over. Alec immediately righted him.
"This could go really smoothly, or could last for days. Mind your manners, Kenny, and it'll all be over soon," Carlisle chided, shaking his head as he walked back to the opposite end of the table to hover over Bobby. "What was the bomb for, Bobby?"
Bobby didn't answer immediately, because Edward's presence was making him almost sick with nerves. My husband grabbed another piece of rope as Sam forced Bobby's arms up onto the table. Securing a loop around Bobby's wrists, Edward pulled the man's arms out straight, Bobby's chest hitting the edge of the table. Carlisle rummaged through the toolbox, pulling out a pair of pliers.
"Bomb, Bobby," Carlisle ordered again, picking up the boy's pinky finger and starting to tug at the boy's fingernail. I could tell he wasn't actually removing it, but the illusion, the threat worked beautifully, because Bobby panicked.
"No, no, no!" Bobby practically cried, and Carlisle pulled the pliers away. "A building downtown, okay? They didn't tell me which one! Look, you don't have to do this shit to me! I'll tell you what you want, what I know...just...don't!"
"He's just a kid," Mickey whispered, shaking her head. "What the hell was he doing here to begin with?" she asked, like she was thinking out loud.
Almost as if Bobby had heard her, he blurted out, "I just wanted out of the city, away from doctors and my parents... Walter didn't tell me about this shit. I didn't know what he was planning, I swear."
"Let him go," Eleazar told Edward and Sam, who relaxed their grip on him. "Where would Walter go, Bob?" he asked him, using a calm, even tone of voice.
"I don't know," he answered immediately, shaking his head. "I only stayed here at the camp. Hell, I've never even been inside the house," he gushed. "I know that they needed money," he continued, and his eyes looked up at me.
"Don't look at her!" Edward snapped, bring his fist down onto the table, where it gave an eerie crack. His shoulders and arms seemed to expand with his hatred, his protection of me as he loomed over Bobby.
Carlisle smiled, and it was evil and controlled. "Okay, Bobby, then who among you would know?"
"Kenny," the kid answered, jerking his chin toward the other end of the table.
"You stupid fucking bastard!" Kenny snapped, trying to lunge for him, but was caught in Alec's strong grip. "I'll fucking kill you!" he threatened, fighting against handcuffs and rough hands.
"Oh no, you don't," Alec crooned, forcing Kenny back down. "Move again, and I'll hang you from that hook...right there." Alec pointed to a large bent metal hook that was high on the closest wooden post.
"He's been with Walter since the beginning," Bobby stated, giving a sideways glance to Kenny before continuing. "He and Rusty were brought in by Lilith. Something about revenge for a dead kid or something. I'm not sure. I heard Rusty's dead, though..."
"He is," Carlisle admitted to him. "What was the money for?"
"Us...everyone," he replied, shrugging. "We're broke. Most of these people didn't have jobs or houses. Some of them had been laid off at the local lumberyard. They'd lost homes and shit. We could hunt and grow food, but not much else. There was a rumor that we were about to lose this place."
"So what did Walter have to do with a lumberyard?" Carlisle asked. "He was a therapist at Shady Glen...not a heavy laborer."
"I met Walter at Shady Glen, but there were a few people in his group therapy that used to be employed at the mill..."
"So let me guess," Mickey muttered ever so softly in my ear. "Walter has no agenda of his fucking own. He latches on to whatever sad sob story anyone tells him. Lilith with her kids...and you...and then this lumber mill closing. He wants to fix shit, but he's going about it all wrong. Instead of using therapy to help them, he promises to end the problem. This D.O.A shit has gone to his head."
Carlisle heard her and studied her face for a moment, waving her off when she mouthed, "Sorry."
He huffed once, but nodded. "You might be right. And he combined the two problems in order to obtain money. It's how he's using Lilith in the first place."
"Interesting," Eleazar mused, rubbing his stubbly chin. "Bobby, you've been an outstanding help," he praised, and then turned to Sam. "Take him inside the house, get him something to eat, and have one of my men stand guard over him."
Sam removed the restraints from Bobby's legs, allowing him to stand up slowly. With a large hand on the back of his neck, he guided him out of the barn and toward the house.
"I'm gonna fucking kill him!" Kenny growled, shifting in his seat.
"What did I tell you?" Alec asked smoothly, not yelling, but using the low, rumbling tone that was fucking scary. He pulled out a large, sharp knife and cut Kenny's leg restraints, yanking him up from the chair. "Arms up, asshole," he commanded, holding the knife to his throat. Alec lifted him effortlessly, catching Kenny's cuffs on the hook on the post. His feet dangled about six inches from the ground. "Now. Don't fucking move, or I'll gut you like a pig. Got me?"
Edward's impassive face flickered with just a touch of evil amusement, but he said nothing as he waited for Carlisle's next step, which was the man strapped to the table. I suddenly understood the method that they were using; they were saving Kenny for last.
It took several buckets of water on Earl to find out that he was fairly new, but he had been responsible for security down in the mine tunnels. Aside from the old homeless woman from Seattle and Carla and Malcolm Danvers, most of the women and children down there had been dragged along by members of the D.O.A. They were wives and children, which confirmed what they had told us already. It was a sad thought to know that they were widows now. All over a stupid decision to follow one man.
When they were absolutely sure that he had no idea what building that bomb was going to be used on, they ceased their torture on him, moving on to Roy outside in the well. Roy knew even less, but he did give up the name of the lumberyard.
With a quick text to Alice to research Bradlee Lumber Mill, I turned my attention to Kenny, who was hanging silently with his eyes locked onto the activity at the water well.
I turned to Mickey. "Walter was using them all," I stated, just loudly enough so that I could block out the screams from out at the well, because I needed a break from it all, but also, I wanted to make sure that Kenny could hear me. "I'd be willing to bet that these people wouldn't have ever seen a dime of money. I bet he would have run off with every cent."
Mickey hummed in approval, her eyebrows shooting up. "You might be right. He may still run on them, leaving whoever he thinks is left to this fucking mess. El's charging them with some sort of...terrorist shit. I'm not sure what. They'll lose their rights the second he gets them behind bars. They'll be sent to Cuba to live out the remainder of their lives. I heard Felix talking this morning..."
I glanced up at Felix, who was still guarding the doorway of the barn, and he was nodding slowly. "Huh," I breathed with a nod. "Guantanamo Bay?" I verified, and they both nodded.
"They're military prisoners now," Mickey added with a shrug. "A terrorist would be considered a threat to the country...no matter how personal the reasons are..."
I glanced up at Kenny, and noted that he was listening with rapt attention. "This won't be Washington State Prison, Kenny – or in this case, California," I told him, tilting my head at him. "Is Walter worthy of your loyalty? You won't see any money or him. Ever."
Mickey snickered softly, shaking her head when he didn't answer me. "Honestly?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "I don't think Kenny will make it out of this barn. The others, yes. Him...no."
"You might be right," I sighed, leaning back against the haystack behind me.
"You didn't see Edward with Rusty," she stated, grimacing a bit. "And he was the guy that held the gun to Abby's head. This asshole was the one that pointed a gun to Bethy's."
I sneered, fighting my own temper.
"But it's not just that," Mickey continued, locking eyes with Kenny. "It's every word Bethy said against him once Edward got her home. Apparently, Kenny likes bullying little kids. He took their food away, made them stay quiet at all times, gave them cough medicine to knock them out when they bugged him. And Bethy said that one time, Kurt had to stop Kenny from shooting them when the girls wouldn't stop crying. She called him The Mean Man."
"I really owe Kurt a thank you," I sighed, keeping my voice only for her, and she nodded in agreement. "I hope he can...stay out of this trouble."
We both looked up when we saw that they had pulled Roy completely up out of the well. Carlisle even patted him on the back as Sam lead him away into the house, only to come right back out.
A warm summer breeze blew through the barn, the smell of more impending rain heading our way, but from the looks of the clouds outside, it was hours before it would be on us. I shirked out of my hoodie as Mickey tugged off her jacket. She stood up and stretched, only to sit right back down next to me. Kenny's eyes watched her every move, as she sat by me in a black tank and blue jeans.
"Come on, princess," Kenny chuckled, trying to shift around as he hung there. "You gonna give me a show, too? It's not like I haven't touched you, because that drug Walter gave you knocked you out cold."
My temper flared to an all time high, and I was up and across the barn before he could take another breath. Felix moved, calling for the men outside, but I had already swung a fist across his face. Another punch to his stomach and I found myself restrained by strong arms that came with a velvet voice.
"Easy, sweetness," Edward crooned in my ear. "You don't want to use a fist. You want to use an open hand. There's less chance of internal damage that way. What did he say to you, love?"
I shook my head, shaking from head to toe as Edward held me back, but my glare at Kenny didn't waver as he coughed and groaned. I noted with complete satisfaction that I'd split the skin just above his eye.
"Tell me, Bella," he whispered in my ear, "and he will be punished for it. I fucking swear."
"He touched me...while I was knocked out. He said he fucking touched me!" I wheezed, shaking my head in denial.
My husband's entire demeanor instantly changed completely. He was rigid with his anger, his hands practically shaking claws that were digging into my skin.
Sam grunted, looking between me and Edward, and then finally looking to Kenny. "You just signed your death warrant, asshole," he stated, taking me from Edward with surprisingly gentle hands and holding me as Edward stepped away from us.
Edward reached down to the top of his boot and pulled out a long fucking knife with notches in it. He spun it in his hand once, his face dark, beautiful, and determined. He looked like a dark knight, an avenging angel, and Death come knocking, all rolled into one extraordinarily gorgeous being, because he knew how I felt about being touched against my will. He knew what it would've done to me had I been awake for it. And he wasn't fucking having it.
"Edward," Carlisle started, but his son held up a quick hand to shut him up.
"Don't!" he growled, glaring at his father and shaking his head. "This asshole is mine!"
Edward dragged the knife lightly around Kenny's face, across his neck, and down his torso, as his upper lip curled into a hateful sneer. When he reached the bottom of Kenny's t-shirt, he slid the knife under it. With one smooth, slow slice, Kenny's shirt lay open, revealing several homemade and professional tattoos. Some were grim, some were kind of pretty, but most were a continuous amount of ink spreading over his pecs and shoulders. Edward sliced again and again, and the shirt fell to the barn floor silently, just below Kenny's dangling feet.
Taking the knife overhanded, Edward jabbed it swiftly into the wood right next to Kenny's face, causing him to flinch. He took one step back and turned to me. "Open handed," he stated, raising an eyebrow at me, just before bringing his hand across Kenny's face at full speed and strength.
The smack that echoed in the barn made us all cringe, but Edward didn't stop. More slaps popped against Kenny's stomach, pecs, and once more across his face.
"Fuck!" Kenny gasped, trying to catch his breath before another hit came. "Make him stop!"
"Where's Walter?" Carlisle asked, looking resigned at the direction this interrogation was going now.
"I don't know!" he yelled, bracing himself when another three hits slashed across his body.
"Where would he hide, Kenny?" Eleazar asked, taking a step closer.
Kenny's skin was now a bright red, with perfect handprints across his pale stomach and face. His breathing was ragged, as his eyes flickered to Eleazar, and then back to Edward's raised hand.
"I swear, I don't know!" he said through gritted teeth, wincing when another hit came to his chest. "Walter talked about a lot of places...places his parents owned..."
Another slap blurred across his face, this time causing his lip to split and bleed, but I spun away from him to look at Carlisle.
"We have that list," I muttered to him with a nod. "Though we could talk to Walter Sr. again. We didn't check out of the country."
Carlisle placed a hand on his son's shoulder, halting his swinging arm. "Hold on, son," he said softly, turning back to me. "Get with Alice... have her check outside the U.S. Then, once we get back, we'll have another chat with Walter's parents."
My godfather's eyes were dark, almost unfeeling, even though he was directing his attention to me. And I knew right then, I was being sent from the barn on purpose. I was not to see what would happen next to Kenny Porter.
I glanced up at the grunting, groaning, wheezing man that was hanging like a piece of meat from a hook. I took a deep breath and let it out, finally looking up at my Edward – but he wasn't...my Edward. He was the pure essence of hatred and revenge at the moment. His eyes were black, his hands opening and closing over and over, and every muscle he owned seemed to be pumped up with the poison that was filling him as he glared at the man hanging in front of him. If Kenny hadn't taken Bethy, if he hadn't scared my little girl, if he hadn't put a gun to her head more than once, if he hadn't taken food from her, or bullied her in any way, I would have been scared of Edward at that moment. But I knew the combination of all that Kenny did to Bethy, along with the fact that he'd admitted to touching me while I was knocked out, was too much for my husband. In fact, looking at him, I wasn't even sure he could be reached.
"Okay," I finally said to Carlisle, my brow wrinkling as Sam pulled a battery from a tractor at the end of the barn.
He snatched the cables that went with it, slamming it all down onto the table next to Kenny. Unrolling a piece of duct tape, he taped the black wire to the bare skin of Kenny's chest, keeping the red one in his hand. Fuck, if they weren't about to use electric shock on the guy for more information.
Kenny seemed to come back to himself briefly, looking down at his chest and following the wire that was attached to the battery. His eyes widened, but his attention flickered from Carlisle, to Eleazar, to Edward, and then finally to me. And damn, if he didn't have a death wish with the next words that popped out of his mouth.
"They're real, right?" he panted, a tired, but cocky smirk playing on his beaten face.
I froze, afraid of where he was going with that question, but I had a pretty good idea.
"Your tits...they're real, right? They felt real," he rasped a harsh laugh.
It took four men to stop Edward as he lunged for the knife by Kenny's head, and they still called for Emmett, who happened to be walking in from outside.
"You stupid motherfucker!" Edward snarled, straining against his father, Eleazar, Felix, and Alec, but Emmett was a force all on his own. He came around to Edward's front, wrapping his giant arms around my husband's middle to push him back. "I'm gonna fucking kill you!" my husband yelled, pointing a finger over Emmett's shoulder.
"Not yet," Eleazar grunted, as Edward continued to try and fight them all. "I still need him, Ed."
"Edward!" I snapped, grabbing his face and trying to force him to look at me. "Baby, look at me." I stood up on my toes to whisper in his ear. "I love you. Come back to me...for just a moment, Edward."
I couldn't blame him, because I was completely disgusted that Kenny could've possibly touched me, but if we needed more from Kenny, then Edward needed to get himself under control.
Edward still strained against everyone, but his eyes flickered to mine. His breathing came out in heavy pants, as every cord in his neck was taut with tension. I tugged at his face again, and he finally relented slightly.
"Step away from him for just a moment, baby," I told him, using a calm voice. "If I wasn't awake, then it didn't count," I lied, but my husband didn't need to know that right then. I looked up at Emmett, saying, "Help me get him outside, Em. Please."
Emmett nodded, practically picking Edward up as we forced him just outside the barn doors. He slammed him against the wall, holding his shoulders with all his strength.
"Edward, look at me," I ordered again, popping up between him and Emmett. I reached up, snatching off his baseball cap and dropping it to the grass. Threading my fingers into Edward's hair, I pulled his forehead to mine. "It's okay...I'm okay, baby."
"Bella..." he rasped, squeezing his eyes closed tightly, before opening them back up to lock with mine. "He..."
"I know," I whispered, nodding a bit against him. I continued to run my fingers through his hair. "They need more from him, Edward," I told him.
"He fucking touched you," he grunted through gritted teeth, but I could feel the fight against me and Emmett leave him. His hands left the bracing hold he had on Em, and he reached for me. He grabbed me almost roughly at the waist and pulled me to him, and Emmett released us, taking a few steps back. "I fucking swore no one would ever touch you again, baby..." Edward's voice almost sounded like a sob, but it was probably anger and guilt and worry, all rolled into one overwhelming emotion.
"Not your fault, Edward," I told him, kissing his jaw, and then his lips. "You weren't there...you couldn't know..."
"I should've been," he breathed, wrapping me up so tightly that his arms crossed over my back and gripped my shoulders, and I couldn't help but bury my face in his neck, letting the amazing smell of him waft over me. "I'm sorry..."
"We had to be apart for that," I consoled him, still keeping my fingers in his hair in a constant soothing motion. "You know I needed to get to our girl, baby."
He nodded, his head finally falling to my shoulder. "I-I'm s-sorry he d-did th-that," he muttered against my neck. "Are you okay?"
I nodded, hearing Emmett's footsteps as he walked away from us. I'm sure he was giving us our privacy now that Edward had calmed down. Emmett was never comfortable when it came to my experience with Miller. The big brother that he was to me just couldn't handle it.
"I'm still yours, Edward," I explained to him. "That won't change. You can...claim me back later," I said with a slight huffing laugh.
I grinned when I felt his lips lift into a smile against my neck.
"Bella...it isn't funny," he sighed, pulling back from me to cup my face. He shook his head. "It's...just... Fuck, just swear to me you're all right," he commanded, but the green was returning to his beautiful gaze.
"I'm not okay that he touched me," I admitted, grimacing a bit and shaking my head. "But I will be," I urged, raising an eyebrow at him until he nodded in acknowledgment. "He's just a creepy kid, and I wasn't awake for it. Am I grossed out? Oh yeah," I huffed, rolling my eyes. "Am I traumatized? No. It's mild in...comparison."
Edward exhaled roughly, his brow furrowing, and he looked down at his feet. "You...y-you p-promise m-me?" he stuttered, finally looking into my eyes again, and I nodded slowly, because Edward took his protection of me and Bethy so very fucking seriously.
"I promise," I vowed. "Let them ask their questions, Edward. Maybe you shouldn't touch him again, huh?"
He grimaced, letting out a long, slow, calming breath, but he eventually nodded. "Yeah, probably not..."
Jasper popped out the barn, eying us with a concerned look on his face. "Eddie, you okay?"
Edward nodded, running a hand through his hair, but the other hand stayed on my waist. "Um...yeah, Jazz," he said, swallowing thickly.
"Bells?" Jasper verified, raising an eyebrow at me.
"We're okay," I sighed, practically singing the words to both him and Edward, but my eyes didn't leave my husband's face. "Right?"
Edward smirked, and he suddenly looked weary. "Right, sweetness."
"Good," I confirmed, kissing his cheek. "Now, can I trust you to please not kill him...at least until all the answers are heard?" I asked, grabbing his face and making him look at me again. "I have to talk to Alice."
Edward gave me a tentative nod and a soft, "Yes, ma'am."
I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding in and kissed him again. "I can't watch any more, baby," I admitted, "especially if they're going to shock him. Too much like...burning for my taste."
Edward flinched, but nodded. "Okay, baby. I'll come find you in a bit."
"You better," I warned him jokingly, and he grinned that perfect, sexy, crooked smile that was all mine. "We can check in with the boss when you're done, too," I added, which only made him smile all the wider.
He chuckled, low and sweet. "Yeah, I need to hear her..."
I nodded in agreement, kissed him again, and finally stepped away from him. He seemed to shake just a moment, and then steeled himself, before bending down to grab his hat from the ground. He tugged it on backwards and pushed away from the barn wall, giving me one last look as he walked back inside.
I tried not to look when I heard Carlisle ask, "Where's the bomb going, Kenny?"
When the only answer he got was, "Fuck you," a scream tore through the barn doors and out into the forest.
I shook my head and walked away.
~oOo~
"Edward?" Alice answered.
"No, it's me," I sighed, plopping down on the bank of a small creek a few yards away from the house, the barn, and all the craziness going on. "My phone's lost, so I'm using his."
"Oh, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha," she chanted in her usual manner. "Need me to get you a new one?"
"Yeah, one less thing, I guess." I leaned back against a tree, feeling a little better. I'd taken an extremely hot shower after Kenny's confession of touching me. I'd scrubbed until my skin was raw, trying to shake the violated feelings that I'd been left with, but it gave me a chance to think about his personality. "I have work for you, pixie."
"Well, I have answers for you about Bradlee Lumber Mill," she stated, almost groaning. "It was a division of Twi Tech."
"Oh damn," I whined, shaking my head. "What happened? I can't imagine Carlisle selling it, just to send hundreds of people away jobless."
"Environmentalists," she answered. "It was fruitless to keep it open, because almost all the forests around here are protected. But it's not like he didn't try to help them. He offered them placement just about anywhere. He transferred about seventy-five people out of the state and into new jobs. He even paid for moving them."
"So stubbornness kept the rest here?"
"Some," she replied, and I could hear her typing away. "I mean, some found jobs nearby...something different, but I guess the rest ended up following Walter."
I grimaced, picking up a stone and tossing it into the creek. "Well, that's why I'm calling, Alice. I need you to delve into the Bridges property again. Only this time, search outside the country."
"Sure, no prob," she muttered, already preoccupied with her task. "How's it going over there?" she asked, and I could almost see her all-knowing smirk.
I groaned and rolled my eyes. "Don't ask. It's exhausting and foul. But I know they want to finish up here in order to find Walter and Lilith."
"Yeah, Jazz called...said something about Edward losing his shit?"
"That, my pixie, is an understatement." I laughed humorlessly, remembering Edward's show of pure ire. Though, I felt a touch of pride that I could bring him back to me. "He was truly going to snap."
"So I heard," she chuckled a bit. "Can you blame him, Bells? I mean, really?"
"No," I stated firmly, thinking of all the shit Kenny had done. "But they needed more from Kenny, and Edward needed to back off."
Alice harrumphed, like it was a great disappointment that Kenny was still breathing, but she said nothing else, except, "I'll let you know what I find out about the Bridges, Bells."
"Thanks, Alice. How's my baby?"
A giggle chirped through the phone. "She's currently telling her Gamma that a nap is completely unnecessary."
I grinned, a chuckle erupting from me. "Well, that's a battle in and of itself. I'll call back when the dust settles," I laughed.
"Right?" Alice chortled. "I'm not sure who is more determined, actually."
"Exactly. I'll talk to you later, Alice. Let me know what you come up with."
"'Kay, bye!"
I ended the call, staring down at Edward's phone. His wallpaper was a photo of me and Bethy curled up in the hammock of the back yard. We were laughing wildly, and I could see the similarities between us. In fact, we looked like my mother – all dark hair, laughing eyes, and wrinkled noses – but Bethy had just the slightly crooked smile like her father. Add in her shining bright green eyes and a touch of reddish highlights, and she was a brilliant combination of the two of us – a thought that made me smile, in spite of the fact that I was alone, surrounded by nothing but trees and slow, trickling water.
I giggled a bit as to why Edward would have picked that particular picture, but I didn't care. He had plenty of them saved, but he loved that one. His girls. We'd been laughing at him at the time, because he'd tried to join us in the hammock, only the damn thing wouldn't cooperate. He'd almost fallen on his ass, but we'd been laughing so hard that he'd just stopped and stared at us, taking the picture when we weren't looking.
A few more touches to the screen, and I was looking at the other pictures in his phone. Some were of just Bethy, and some of the two of us. There was even baby Caleb the day he was born, with all of us crowded around Rose's hospital bed. And then there was just me. Glimpses of my sleeping face, or a smile caught when I was on the phone, or even just sitting on Aunt Kate's front porch. The most beautiful one was of me sleeping, and he'd caught the morning sunlight gleaming across my bare back. My hair was a dark splash across my pillow as my hand reached out to his empty place in our bed. It was the mere hint of bare breast peeking out from underneath me, a bare leg that had snaked out from under the covers that was hitched up and searching for him just like my hand was, and it was the small, barely there love bite that was just above my right butt cheek. It was breathtaking and a touch embarrassing at the same time, because he saw me so differently than I saw myself sometimes.
"You don't have to snoop," I heard behind me. "You won't find any...incriminating evidence," he chuckled, kneeling down beside me, but when he saw what I was looking at, he froze. "Oh..."
I wanted to laugh at the pink that touched his cheeks, but his sexy ass crooked smile, along with the tilt of his head, stopped me.
"You're beautiful, love," he said without apology, shrugging. "I couldn't help it. That was the morning after our last anniversary."
I smiled, because we didn't celebrate the day we got married; we celebrated the day he came to get me from Riley Miller. That was our anniversary to us.
I studied the picture again, shifting forward as he took a seat behind me against the tree. I remembered Bethy had spent the night with her Poppy and Gamma, giving us a free night out. I barely remembered dinner, or dancing, but I remembered not being able to stop touching Edward. We'd barely made it out of the car and inside the house before we lost ourselves.
I huffed a laugh, but his hand reached out and touched the screen, bringing another picture up. And then another and another. They were all similar, taken of me in some sort of state of undress. Some I remember him taking, because I'd laughed at his pervertedness for wanting them, but some were just...perfectly secret.
"Edward," I breathed, unable to speak much more than that, due to how much I could feel he loved me through each and every snapshot.
"Just you, sweetness," he stated, kissing the back of my head. "It's always you."
I turned in his lap, draping my legs over one of his and leaning back against the other. He reached up and brushed a stray hair from my face, leaning in to kiss my temple as his other hand landed softly on my thigh to hold me close.
"I wasn't searching for evidence of other women, Edward," I teased him, handing his phone back over, and he set it down beside him. "I just saw your wallpaper and got curious."
He chuckled. "Yeah, I love that one. My sweet girls..."
I grinned, biting my bottom lip as I gazed up at his handsome face. He seemed calmer now, in more control, and his sweet smile was melting me.
"Are you done back there?" I asked, reaching up to pull a leaf that had landed on his shoulder.
"For now," he answered, his voice a little gruff, but his hands were gentle as one caressed my thigh, while the other ran over the top of my head and down my ponytail. "I didn't kill him, if that's what you're asking, Bella."
I shook my head, twirling the leaf between my thumb and forefinger. "No, no...I wasn't. And I'm not sure that I care one way or the other," I muttered, shrugging one shoulder. Wrinkling my nose, I looked up at him. "He's an asshole, but if El takes him, he'll never be released, so that works for me."
"He...put a gun...he fucking touched you!" The fact that he couldn't finish his sentences meant that his anger was still just under the surface.
"I know," I rushed, shifting quickly so that I was kneeling between Edward's legs. I grasped either side of his face and kissed him roughly. "I know," I said again. "I was just simply telling you how I feel about it, baby. That's all."
I studied Edward's face, tracing his eyebrow, his jaw line and finally his bottom lip, and he slowly relaxed under my touch. "Did you stop to think that maybe he's lying about that? He seems to live for the negative reaction, Edward. He seems to like saying shit, just to set people off."
Edward's brow furrowed as he absorbed what I was saying. "Do you believe that?" he asked, and I could hear it was an honest question, not a scoff coming from him.
"I don't know," I said truthfully, "but I do know when I woke up the second time, it was Kurt in the room with me...not Kenny. I seemed to be in the same position as when I'd been knocked out. I can't tell you if he's telling the truth, but Kurt seems like the kind of person that wouldn't have allowed that sort of thing to happen. We could ask him..."
Edward took a deep breath and let it out. "We could..." he mumbled, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
"I was completely dressed when I came to," I added with a shrug. "I've been replaying the shit over and over in my mind, Edward..."
"He has a charge of rape on his fucking record, Bella," Edward snapped in barely controlled anger.
I sighed, shaking my head. "Okay," I surrendered, holding my hands up. "I don't want to fight. I just don't know if it's true, baby. Maybe ignorance really is bliss..."
I started to get up, but strong hands grabbed my waist.
"Don't," he commanded, but it was filled with remorse as he tilted his head up at me. "I'm not fighting, sweetness," he murmured, his face almost in a pout. "I'm sorry... I just... I can't think of someone ever touching you against your will again, Bella. I just can't." He took another deep breath. "I need you happy, whole... blissfully ignorant, in this case," he said, breaking into a sexy smirk when I giggled.
"See this?" I asked, gesturing between us, and he nodded. "This is the happy, the whole, Edward. You make me strong, baby. You remember what it was like for me before. It was the act of watching Miller touch me that was the worst part. If I didn't see this or experience it, does it count?"
"It counts to me," he whispered, "but I understand what you're saying."
"I'm offended that he may have touched me, Edward," I explained, "but I'm okay."
I knew that's what bothered him the most – the possibility that I might slip into some sort of relapse. I took solace in the fact that the people that held me were not sexually driven people. Even Alice said that Kenny's statutory rape charges were crap, because he'd been eighteen and his girlfriend had been sixteen. The guy was an ass, yes, but I believed he liked just getting a rise out of people – no matter how dangerous those people might have been.
The worry didn't leave his face, so I snatched up his phone. I scrolled through his contacts, hitting send, even though this person was just yards away.
It rang once. "Edward?"
"Carlisle, it's Bella," I huffed, rolling my eyes at Edward's fight for the phone. I smacked at his hands and shushed him.
"Sweetheart, what's wrong?"
"Nothing. Is Kurt anywhere near you?"
"Yeah, hold on," he said, and I could hear the shuffling of the phone. "It's Bella," he explained softly.
"Hello?"
"Kurt, I have a question for you. At any time, did Kenny touch me while I was unconscious?"
"What? No! Kenny went to get the food while you were knocked out the first time. The second time, he was sleeping in the other room," he explained. "I would have kicked his ass, Bella. Why? Did he tell you that? 'Cause he's a fucking lying sack of shit if he did..."
I grinned, liking Kurt more and more the longer he was around, but the best was the look of relief that flickered over Edward's face.
"Thanks, Kurt," I said, meaning that for more than just his honesty, but his integrity that seemed deeply ingrained in him, even though he was only in his early twenties. It was rare to see, especially with all that he'd been through lately.
I ended the call, setting the phone down right back where it was before and folding my arms across my chest. "See?"
"He likes you, you know," Edward mumbled with a frown and a furrowed brow, trying to tug at my arms, but I wouldn't uncross them.
"You..." I growled, raising an eyebrow at him, "just need something to bitch about right now. You need something to be angry at..."
He exhaled a light laugh, his eyebrows flicking up once as he shook his head. "Maybe..."
"He's not my type, you know," I purred, knowing exactly what my husband needed. "Not...even...close," I crooned, gripping his t-shirt in my hands and pulling myself closer to him. My lips hovered barely over his as I whispered, "Did I thank you for coming to get me, Edward?"
"Y-Yes," he breathed, his hands gliding over my jean clad thighs.
"Hmm, I don't think I did it properly. Do you?"
He hummed against my lips, but seemed to come back to reality just as quickly as he'd left it. Looking around and then back to me, he whispered, "Here?"
I smiled, dragging my tongue across my bottom lip. "No one is out here, are they?"
"N-No," he sputtered, giving another glance around, but I was already snaking my fingers under his t-shirt, pushing and tugging on it until he relented. Reaching behind him, he grasped a fistful of the material and swiftly pulled it off over his head. "Bella," he breathed, his hands gripping my ass and pressing me closer, but his voice sounded like relief, like this was what he needed to just let go.
Nimble, knowing fingers released the top two buttons of my shirt, tugging at the collar and my bra strap until my shoulder was exposed. I couldn't help the wanton moan that erupted from me when Edward was not so gentle, not so sweet, using teeth roughly over my collarbone, the curve of my shoulder, and the sensitive skin where my neck and shoulder met. My hips rolled over his, the sensation dulled through my denim and his cargo pants, but I could still feel his want, his need for this – for me.
I whimpered when his actions stayed almost frantic. Fingers dug into my ass cheek, gripped my hair at the base of my neck and practically yanked my mouth to his. Edward's breathing was heavy against my cheek, our noses brushing as he turned his head the other way. His tongue claimed my mouth, delving deep with such an erotic swirl that I felt it everywhere.
He broke away from my lips, dragging his tongue and teeth down my jaw and back to my neck, whispering, "He didn't touch you." It was a statement, an affirmation, not a question.
"He didn't touch me," I told him, unable to to keep my hips still when he reached up to tug my bra cup down, exposing my hardened peaks through my barely buttoned shirt.
He brushed his thumb across my nipple, his eyes dark and locked onto mine. Leaning forward, his tongue took over the job. "He didn't touch what was...mine."
I panted and shook my head no, squeezing my eyes closed, because I realized that this was more than just anger Edward was dealing with. It was everything that he'd been through since Bethy had been taken. It was fighting, it was the loss of his family, the loss of his wife, and he couldn't be there to stop anything that had happened to either of us when out of his sight. It was Edward's loss of control. And Edward didn't like not being in control.
He was about to take it all back.
My back arched, offering myself to him, but really, I just couldn't help it. My thighs gripped his as I straddled him, bucking slightly when he tugged my other bra cup down. Slow, tantalizing circles around my nipples with his tongue brought them to tighter, more sensitive points, and I was panting as I watched his mouth on me. His eyes locked onto mine as he looked up through his long, dark eyelashes, with deep green eyes filled with such carnal promise that it made my heart sputter. I watched as a slight twitch quirked up the corner of his mouth when I cried out at the feel of his flattened tongue raking across my nipple.
"Edward," I whimpered, gripping his shoulders as he shifted quickly, and I found myself on my back, laying on his discarded shirt.
Leaves crunched under me, the water trickled just mere feet away, but all that was lost in the feel of my husband settling between my legs and bracing a hand by my head. Edward grabbed the front of my jeans, tugging me upwards and kissing me senseless, my body bowing to his will.
"Fuck," he growled against my mouth, nipping at my bottom lip with his teeth. "Baby, I want... Christ, I just fucking want you," he gushed, his hand practically shaking as he lowered my hips back down.
I said nothing, but slipped the fingers of one hand into his hair and trailed down his muscular back with another. I tried pulled him to me by a firm grip on his ass, but he suddenly launched back from me.
Another sharp glance around, and he flicked open the fly of my jeans. I lifted my hips as he jerked them off of me, tossing them to the wayside, only to fall down back over me. I was only in my practically open shirt and my underwear out there in the woods, but I couldn't have cared less at that point, because Edward's hips bucked forward, causing me to call out his name again against his smooth shoulder when he nipped at the flesh of my neck. His hard as hell arousal hit me perfectly through the thin fabric of my thong, and my whole body shuddered at the feel of him not holding back, of giving into whatever was guiding him.
I pushed and shoved at him until he finally fell onto his back, pulling me with him. I straddled his stomach, pressing him into the leaves and just gazing at him as I caught my breath for just a moment. His face was intense and slightly put-off that I'd taken a touch of his control, but he used it to his advantage in order to ogle right back.
Edward gritted his teeth, his brow furrowing just a little as he panted beneath me. Every muscle on his upper body was taut and large, like he'd been working out, but I pushed away the thoughts of what he'd been doing most of the morning, because he was gaping up at me with hungry, desperate eyes.
"Bella," he groaned, reaching for me, but I grabbed his wrists and held him back.
"What, Edward?" I asked, tilting my head at him. "Tell me what you want."
"You," he grunted, his hips bucking under me as he brought his knees up behind me.
"How?" I growled, leaning over him and pinning his hands in the grass. "Tell me!"
"I need...to just...fuck you," he snapped, and I let go of his hands.
He pushed himself up on one elbow, and with the other hand, he grasped my upper arm to hold me still. His kiss was searing, all consuming, and full of a need so deep that there may have been no stopping him. Not that I ever had any intention to put an end to what he was doing, because I was catching up to his fevered mood. Quickly.
He fell back down, taking me with him, his hands gripping and grasping at my arms, my ass, even my shirt. His hips bucked under me again, and I inhaled sharply at the feel of his belt buckle.
"Shit," he hissed, rolling us over again, so that my back was protected by his t-shirt. "Sorry, baby," he groaned, his forehead falling to mine.
"Oh, God, Edward...don't stop," I pleaded, cupping either side of his face and kissing him stupid.
Bracing one hand by my shoulder, his other traveled slowly, but firmly down my body, until he finally slid it between my legs. The sweet, deep moan that he let out in my mouth when he found me ready and wet for him caused my toes to curl.
"I made you this wet," he stated, pulling back and glaring at me with a heated, almost feral look in in his eye. "Tell me it was me that did this..."
"Sweet God, yes," I grunted, my hips meeting the delicious rhythm that he was setting over the fabric of my underwear. "Please, baby..."
"I want to see you come," he crooned, licking his lips as his fingers slipped inside the crotch of my panties.
"No, no," I panted, shaking my head profusely. "This," I begged, palming the outside of his now tented cargo pants. "Fuck, Edward... I need this..."
I just wanted, neededhim inside of me. I needed to feel connected to him, feel him want me, unrestrained, unhindered, without anyone or anything around us to hear him. I wanted to watch him lose himself in me, because just the mere thought of it caused my center to clench and my stomach to tingle with anticipation of being taken over by him.
I didn't give him a chance to argue or plan something else. My hands were on his belt, his button, and his zipper before he could say another word. He was so hard that the tip of him was almost to the waistband of his boxer briefs. He was hard, warm, smooth, and already leaking from the tip. I licked my lips as he held himself above me, finally locking gazes with him.
As I shoved his pants and underwear down over his ass, his cock sprang free of its confines, leaving his pants to protect his knees from the foliage underneath us. "I want to come around this, Edward," I told him, wrapping my hand around him and giving him one good, long, firm stroke.
"Fuck, Bella," he grunted, using his thumb to push my thong to the side, which in turn caused my breath to catch when he brushed roughly across my clit.
"Move that hand, sweetness," he commanded, and a drop of his sweat fell from his brow, down to my chest. He hooked an arm under my leg, bringing it up between us and lining up with my entrance.
Edward paused, locking eyes with me and giving me the sexiest, most panty-dropping smile, before sheathing himself completely.
"Holy fucking hell!" I hissed through gritted teeth, my eyes rolling back into my head and my neck arching upward as I gripped his shoulders.
It was all I could do to just hang on, because his hips pulled back and pushed forward with a deep, swiveling rhythm. His forehead pressed to mine, but his eyes stayed locked onto my face. It seemed he was taking in and memorizing every whimper I released and every moan that escaped. He'd hold back, using shallow strokes, only to push deep inside to hit the spot that always caused my breathing to stop momentarily. He'd stroke up when he wanted to press his pelvic bone against my clit, making sure I came closer and closer to the edge.
Licking across my lips, down my jaw to my neck, he started murmuring words that were my undoing. "You feel so fucking good, baby," he crooned, nipping at my flesh lightly enough that it didn't hurt, but with just enough pressure to cause my limbs to pull him in closer. "So tight, so wet, Bella. You make all the bad shit...so fucking good."
The emotions that had been building inside of me welled up to an overflowing amount, and I came hard around him, biting down on his shoulder with just enough teeth to achieve the erotic moan I was searching for. He rode out my spasms, letting my leg go and slipping his arms underneath my back, gripping firmly onto my shoulders.
His hips pounded against me, and the forest was filled with the sounds of skin slapping skin. Edward grunted when my legs wrapped high around his waist, my heels digging into his ass to bring him deeper, closer. I knew that if he were to let go of my shoulders, my back would be skinned from the leaves under me, despite the t-shirt I was on. Edward was losing himself in me, but his protection never ended. Even from himself.
But even with all of that, I could tell he was holding back. That he was allowing all the shit he'd been through to surface.
"Baby, let go," I urged, kissing up his shoulder to his ear. "It's okay, Edward. You can let it go now..."
I gripped his shoulder and wrapped an arm around his head when he buried his face in my neck. His hips faltered in his rhythm, just before he came with a deep, groaning, "Bella, fuck..."
Our bodies were sticky with perspiration, but I kept him close as he breathed heavily against my neck, placing random kisses here and there.
"I-I w-wanted to k-kill him for t-touching you," he sputtered softly into my neck. I felt him shake his head and sigh deeply.
"I know, baby," I soothed, dragging my fingers up and down his spine. "He didn't."
Edward's non-committal sound made me smile against his jaw. I'm not sure if he'd ever change his over-protectiveness when it came to my past. And I'm not sure I'd ever want him to.
"I love you," I whispered softly against his stubble, kissing his cheek and running my fingers through his hair over and over.
"Oh, God, sweetness, I love you so much," he sighed, finally pulling back to allow me to see his handsome face. "You okay?" he asked for the millionth time since he'd removed me from my cell.
I grinned up at him, biting my bottom lip. "Yeah. Perfect."
He huffed a laugh, kissing my lips softly. "You know, I came out here to tell you we were leaving the mountain in a few hours..."
I giggled, shaking my head. "Hmm... I like that I can distract you, Mr. Cullen."
"Jesus," he chuckled, looking around us and then back to me. "You really have no idea, love."
I giggled again, burying my face in his neck. He hugged me closer, laughing with me.
"Come on, sweetness. Get your beautiful ass dressed. I want to go home," he ordered, popping his hand against my thigh lightly.
"Oh!" I gasped, sitting up with him. "You mean we're leaving-leaving!"
He laughed, cupping my face and kissing my lips quickly. "Yes. You would've known this, had you not seduced me in the woods."
"Shut it," I snapped teasingly, now in a hurry to tug my jeans back on. "You loved it," I told him with authority, pointing a finger at him, before standing up to pull up my zipper.
He grinned, pulling his shirt back over his head and grabbing my finger. He tugged, causing me to stumbled into him. "I did. And I'm pretty sure I wasn't complaining, love. Now..." he huffed, nodding once, "let's go see our girl."
A/N... Yeah that lemon was a surprise for me too. Sometimes, I just do what the characters tell me to do. LOL
Okay, so lots of anger, info, and I'm totally aware of how much you guys are starting to love Kurt. It rivals your hatred of Kenny, who, by the way, isn't off the hook, yet. But the bomb and how Walter was recruiting became a little clearer.
Now, I need to let you guys know that there won't be a Sunday posting. I've been working on something different, so it took me away from Mercward. I will be getting back to work on him ASAP, but I need time to catch up. I'm looking at next Wednesday as the next posting, if all goes according to my evil plan. (Yeah, I sound like Alice... LOL) So gimme a break, my loves. I rarely fail you, but I do need a week.
I need to thank JenRar for beta'ing this, who offered to submit to Mercward to let him have his control back... probably the funniest note she's ever left me in her beta work. XD 'Cause, yeah, I totally get it. Thanks to GooberLou, who researched all those torture methods for me. Scarily enough, she really enjoyed it, though together we came up with "dipping." Go figure. And MedusaInNY for all blog goings on, for always checking on me, and just because she rocks! Thank you.
Okay, so since it'll be a while before I hear from you, let me know what you think. They'll be heading home in the next chapter, so our little family will be reunited. Much love...until next time, later! :)